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Second juvenile in two weeks makes brief escape from EBR juvenile centers

Second juvenile in two weeks makes brief escape from EBR juvenile centers

Advocate file photo by RICHARD ALAN HANNONA 16-year-old youth escaped Thursday morning from the East Baton Rouge Juvenile Services Department on Veterans Boulevard, making it the second escape attempt in as many weeks. On both escape attempts, the juveniles were caught 20 minutes after they escaped, officials said.

The latest escape happened just before 9 a.m. Thursday while some of the juveniles were outside for recreation. A 16-year-old boy scaled a fence roughly 12 feet high, topped with barbed wire and razor wire, and ran free for about 10 minutes before being apprehended about 150 yards from the detention center, said Deron Patin, interim director of the parish’s Department of Juvenile Services.

Patin said Baton Rouge police assisted the detention center’s staff in apprehending the youth in a neighborhood near the center, which is across Veterans Memorial Boulevard from the Metro Airport in north Baton Rouge.

The youth was safely returned to the detention center following the brief escape, Patin said.

The escape marked the second time in two weeks a juvenile broke free from the facility.